Spring suspension for motor vehicles



Feb. 16 ,1926. I 1,573,583

C. H. SMITH- SPRING SUSPENSION FOR MOTOR VEHICLES FilgdQApril 2, 1925 t g; 1

C 7202 661K I 2 tie,

necessarily limited to this orhany other parventiOn;

-tion mayal$o be'u's'ed in connection with of the bodyat 9. r

PatentedFeb. 16,1926. a a 5 3 it UNITED FATE 10F 1 V jcnnnn'ns SMITHQOFAU'RORA, "iIJLINOIS, ASSIGNORTOF oNE-HALEToAIiFREn W;

"MITCHELL, or .rAN'EsvILLE, WISCONSIN. SrRr-nor' SUSPENSION FOR momonvnnronns lipplication file'd April 2, 1925. Serial No. 20,183.

To all whom itmay concern: p axle shaft'housing of themachine. In this Beitlrnown that' I, CHARLES H.'SMrrrI,= connection, it is a further object to secure a-citi-zeirof the United States,- residing at the above'restilt by [the use'of the supple- Aurora, in the county of Kane and State mental leafsprings which constitutea por- 5 of Illinois, havelinventedncertain new and tion-of theipresent invention. v I I useful improvements in "Spring Suspensions Anotherobjectis to provide an'arrang'efor Motor Vehicles, ofjwhich the following' inent which shall be very cheap'and'simple is ifi tion I v in construction, as well asbeing rugged and The presentinvention hasito-do withimdurable and well adapted to meet the severe 10 provenients in spring-suspensionsfor'motor service whichwill be imposed uponit.

vehicles and the like. The invention has Other Objects and uses of the invention todo with a spring suspension construction Wlll appear from a detailed description of 'in which useismade of a crosswise extendthesame, which consists in the, features of m i g h. s i found atthe rear ends oonstructionand combinations of partshere- 15 of Fords, and oth'erlca-rs such as Cadillacs, ll f cri d n l Mar1nons, etc. The'features of the inven In'the drawing: V 1 tion are particularly intended for use in 'Flgur'e -1 shows area-r elevation'r'of a"p0r connection with F0rd'cars, but awstudy of I f a F rd ch ssis having applied'therethe invention-will show that they are not 'to the spring suspension of the present ina ti l las f cars I Fig. 2 shows the left'hand shackle illus- F-urthermore, the construction herein. dis- =tratedj1n Fig. 1, but onenlarged scale; and closed has been r-devised with 'a particular g-' S BcI VatiOn correspond view to meeting theconditions. existing at ing to Fig. 2. 1

son, among others, I have chosen to illusis designated by the numeral 4 and the two hate and avill describethe invention as so axle shaft hous ng by he mimeralsfi and applied. In so doing, however, it will be 6, respectively. Therear wheels are'illusunderstood that the features of the inventr-ated at? and S, and 'thelower portion the front axles of vehicles. The standard type of construction in- One of the objects of the invention is cludes a crosswise extending spring 10, the

to provide n double 's'pring suspensionj'in center portion of which is secured t'o the whichuse ismade of a-seric's'of spring leaves body or toya cross member of the chassis 5 *in addition to jthe cross lcafspring already by -theuse offa block 11 and clips 12 and in use, In this conirectiornit is an object 13. The end portions of the a xle'shaft hous- -of the int 0116011101SO-flllilllgfi thlS supple-i ingsyor else the wheel hubs '14: andf15, are sinci'italspring'th at thciflexibllity-of the comprovidedwith lugs 16 and 17 to Which the 'binedarrangementivill bc very much greatendrportions of the spring 10'are attached 0 ertha'n thatotthe spring us'ually provided. in standard practice.

" his will igreatly improve the smoothness According to thepresent invention I take of the riding qu'aliticsof the vehiclo. another leaf'spring, designated in its en- Another featur'c'of the invention relateS tiretyby thenumeral 18, and place the same 'to' th'c 'prov ision of line-ans for limiting'j the beneath'theadiiferential and axleshaft hous- 5455 title sway of' the body,-"snch liiniting'means ings. -For-this purpose-said leaf spring 18 being provided in-conjunctionwith the douhas its leaves; so bent in the central por- 'blel'springarrangement; In connection with tions, as-shown at 19,-that they curve around the above, 1 it is aifeature of the invention beneath the differential housing with their "to*provide "the limitation tr. side sway by end portions reaching to. the two sides-and a very 'sim'ple attachment to the shackles beneath the axle shaft housings 5 and 16.

which ijoinf-together the end portions of This supplemental spring is held in place the two spring-members. byaseries ofclips 20, and preferably these "Another feature of the invention relates clips *arepassed up from beneath, sothat to the provisionof'means forgreatly'stiflcnthe cross :plates '21 may, set against the top 555 ing and-- strc11gtheningthedifferentialand sides-of the'differentialaxle shaft housings v1110 the rear ends of Ford'cars andfor this'rea- :In the drawing, the differential housing #80 and the parts secured rigidly together by nuts operated from above.

According to the present invention 1 place the shackles 22 and 23 at the two sides of the rear ends of the chassis, said shackles joining the ends of the standard spring 10 to the ends of the supplemental spring 18 and to the lugs 16 and 17, respectively. In the construction illustrated each of these shackles includes a pair of side plates 24 and 25 straddling the axle shaft housing, as shown in Figs. 1 and A pin 26 reaches through the upper ends of the side plates, and a pair of hangers 2'? and 28 have their upper ends swiveled on the pin 26 at points between the side plates 24. and 25. If de sired, a collar 29 may be placed on the pin 26 between the plates 27 and 28 so as to keep them properly spaced.

Another pin 30 is extended between the lower portions of the hangers 27 and 28 and receives the loop on the end of the lower leaf of the standard spring 10. This is clearly evident from the different figures.

A pin 31 reaches between the lower portions of the side plates 24!: and 25 and receives the loop on the end of the top leaf of the supplemental spring 18. If desired, washers 82 may be set on the pin 31 so as to insure satisfactory spacing of the spring loop and so as to insure that the the side plates 24: and 25 will clear the axle shaft housing, as illustrated in Fig. 3.

A pair of links 33 and 34L reach sidewise from the plates 2 1 and 25 at points about half way between the positions of the pins 29 and 30, as indicated in 3. These links are connected to the side plates by studs 35 and 36, respectively; and both of the links are in turn connected to the corresponding lug 16 or 17, as the case may be, by a pin such as 37.

With the spring suspension as above explained the direct down thrusts from the ends of the standard spring 10 are trans mitted directly to the ends of the supple mental spring 18, and the hangers 27 and 28 allow for the necessary movements of the end portions of the standard spring as the same is deflected or straightened out. The necessary end movements of the sup plemental spring 18 are taken care of by reason of the pivotal connection of the plates '24; and 25 to their respective links 33 and 34.

Said links also serve by reason of their pivotal connection with the lugs 16 and 17 to effectively prevent side sway.

It will be noted that although the entire load from the standard spring 10 is communicated in the first place to the differential housing at the middle of the rear end, nevertheless said housing is tremendously reinforced by the presence of the sup-- plemental spring 18 and the effective connections of the same at the sides of the housing by the clips 20. Consequently, the reconstructed chassis is well able to carry all of the loads which are imposed upon it.

lVhile l have herein shown and described only a single embodiment of the features of my present invention, still I do not intend to limit myself to the same, except as I may do so in the claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with the. differential housing and the rear axle housings reaching sidewise therefrom and the transverse rear end leaf spring of a chassis, of a supplemental leaf spring having its central portion concave upwards to receive the lower portion of the differential housing and its end portions reaching sidewise below the axle shaft housings, clips at both sides of the differential housing serving to secure the leaf spring rigidly thereto at points d acent to both sides of the difierential housing, and a shackle connection at each end of the device, each shackle comprisinga pair of side plates embracing the axle shaft housing between them, .a cross pln oining together the side plates of each shackle at a point below the axle shaft housing and receiving the adjacent end portion of the supplemental leaf spring, another pin joining together the side plates of each shackle at a point above the axle shaft housing, a hanger reaching downwards therefrom between the side plates and above the axle shaft housing, a connection between the adjacent end of the first mentioned leaf spring and the lower portion of said hanger, and links pivotally connected to the upper portions of the side plates of each shackle and the adjacent end of the axle shaft housing, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the differential housing and the rear axle housings reaching sidewise therefromand the transverse rear end leafspring of a chassis, of a supplemental leaf spring having its central portion concave upwards to receive the lower portion of the differential housing and its end portions reaching sidewise below the axle shaft housings, clips at both sides of the differential housing serving to secure the leaf spring rigidly thereto at points adjacent to both sides of the difl'ereutial housing, and a shackle connection at each end of the device, each shackle comprising a pair of side plates embracing the axle shaft housing between them, a cross pin joining together the side plates of each shackle at a point below the axle shaft h0using and receiving the adjacent end portion of the supplemental leaf spring, another pin joining together the side plates of each shackle at a point above the axle shaft housing, a hanger reaching downwards therefrom above the axle shaft housing, a connection between the adjacent end of the first mentioned leaf spring and the lower" portion of said hanger, and a link pivotally connected to the upper portion of each shackle and the, adjacent end of the axle shaft housing, substantially as described.

3. The combination with the. differential housing and the rear axle housings reaching sidewise therefrom and the transverse rear end leaf spring of a chassis, of a vsupplemental leaf spring having its central portion concave upwards to receive the lower portion of the dilferentialhou'sing and its end portions reaching'sidewise below the axle shaft housings, clips at both sides of the differential housing servingto secure the leaf spring rigidly thereto at points adjacent to both sides of the difierential housing. and a shackle connection at each end reaching sidewise therefrom and the transverse rear end leaf spring of a chassis, of a supplemental leaf spring located beneath the differential housing and having its end portions reaching shaft housings,

A means for securing the central portion of 'said supplemental leaf spring rigid with respect to the .dif-

ferential ,housing, and a shackle connection joining together the end portions of the leaf springs at both sides of the device, while allowing c said springs to sidewise beneath the axle i move vertically with respect to the axle v shaft housing, and a link connection between each shackle connection and the" end portion of the axle shaft housing, substantially as described.

5. The combination with one of the. axles of an automotive vehicle and the transverse leaf springthereof above said axle, of a supplemental leaf spring having its central portion secured to the central portion of the x1e and its end portions reaching sidewise below the axle, together with shackles connecting together the end portions of both leaf springs, and suitable link connections between said shackles and the end portions of the axle, substantially as described.

CHARLES H. SMITH. 

